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Proto-Mayan phonology
The Proto-Mayan language is reconstructed (Campbell and Kaufman 1985) as having the following sounds: Five vowels: a'', ''e, i'', ''o and u''. Each of these occurring as short and long: ''aa, ee, ii, oo and uu, Sound rules The following set of sound changes from proto-Mayan to the modern languages are used as the basis of the classification of the Mayan languages. Each sound change may be shared by a number of languages; a grey background indicates no change. Developments The palatalized plosives and are not carried down into any of the modern families. Instead they are reflected differently in different branches allowing a reconstruction of these phonemes as palatalized plosives. In the eastern branch (Chujean-Q'anjob'alan and Cholan) they are reflected as and . In Mamean they are reflected as and and in Yukatek and K'ichean as and .England (1994), p.35. The Proto-Mayan liquid is reflected as in the eastern languages (Chujean- Q'anjob'alan and Cholan), Huastecan and Yukatek but as in Mamean and in K'ichean and Poqom. Proto-Mayan velar nasal is reflected as in the western branches (K'ichean Mamean), as in Q'anjob'alan, Cholan and Yukatekan, and only conserved as in Chuj and Poptí.England (1994), pp.30-31. In Huastecan is reflected as . The changes of Proto-Mayan glottal fricative are many and it has different reflexes according to position. In some positions it has added length to the preceding vowel in languages that preserve a length distinction. In other languages it has the reflexes , , , or a zero-reflex.England (1994), p.37. Only K'ichean-Mamean and some Q'anjob'alan languages have retained Proto-Mayan uvular stops and whereas all other branches have changed these into and respectively. In Mamean a chain shift took place changing into , into , into and into . These retroflex affricates and fricatives later diffused into Q'anjob'alan.Campbell (1997), p.164. In polysyllabic words Kaqchikel and Tz'utujil have changed a final Proto-Mayan and into and respectively.Campbell, Lyle, 1998, "Historical Linguistics", Thames & Hudson p.170 Huastecan is the only branch to have changed Proto-Mayan into . Wastek also is the only Mayan language to have a phonemic labialized velar phoneme , but this is known to be a postcolonial development. Comparing colonial documents in Wastek to modern Wastek it can be seen that they were originally clusters of and a rounded vowel followed by a glide. For example the word for "vulture" which in modern Wastek is pronounced was written in colonial Wastek and pronounced . The Yucatecan languages have all shifted Proto-Mayan into in wordfinal position. Several languages particularly Cholan and Yucatecan have changed short into . All Cholan languages have changed long proto-Mayan vowels and into and respectively. Vowel length distinction has been lost in Q'anjob'alan-Chujean (except for Mocho' and Akateko), Kaqchikel and Cholan. Some languages have reduced the vowel length distinction into a tense lax distinction that was later lost for most vowels, Kaqchikel however retains a centralized lax schwa-like vowel as a reflex of Proto-Mayan .England (1994), pp.110-111. Two languages, Yukatek and Uspantek and one dialect of Tzotzil have introduced a tone distinction in vowels between high and low tones as reflexes of former vowel length and and .